Cong decides to exempt essentials from bandh purview

Bhubaneswar, Sep 7 (UNI) Essential services will be exempted from the purview of the dawn to dusk Congress-sponsored Orissa bandh on September 10 in protest against the ''misrule and inefficiecny'' of the BJD-BJP alliance government, Orissa Pradesh Congress President Jayadev Jena said here today.

Mr Jena said hospitals, ambulances, medicine shops, relief distribution, milk and water supply, fire brigade and other essential services would operate as usual and their functioning would not be disturbed during the bandh.

He said the cholera-affected districts of the state would also be excluded from the bandh in a bid to give priority to the health services and relief distribution in those areas.

The bandh call was given by the state Congress in protest against among other things misutilisation of Central asistance, corruption, deteriorating law and order, fake certificate and marksheet scandal, starvation deaths, female foeticide, deaths due to consumption of fake medicines and cholera during the rule of the present government.

However, he appealed to keep all the schools, colleges, government offices, and Banks closed on that day and to stop plying of bus and trucks and make the bandh a success.

The Congress leader said Orissa High Court Bar Association and many other trade unions had written to him to support the bandh and not join their work.

Mr Jena said elaborate arrangements had been made to make the bandh a success. Each area was given to a leader and asked to make the bandh a success in those areas.

On the occasion, the party also released a poster christened ''Aei Aama Orissa'' (This is our Orissa). The cartoon charters displayed in the poster showed the Chief Minister accepting money from the representatives of industrial houses, looting of mines, cholera deaths, poverty and female foeticide cases.

Mr Jena said the posters would be sent to all parts of the state to educate the people about the state of affairs going on and to appeal to them to fight against the government.

UNI